Dark Matter Day 2018

Grounds for Science: Dark Matter Day!

Micah Brush (physics) and Wren Suess (Astronomy)

Friday, October 26 – 6:30 pm

Scarlet City Espresso Bar

3960 Adeline Street Emeryville, CA 94608

How do we look for evidence of “Dark Matter” in the universe? How can we discover how galaxies are formed? Two young researchers from UC Berkeley will share stories of their search for dark matter and the secrets of galaxy formation.

Grounds for Science is a public science talk series organized by and featuring UC Berkeley graduate students. Enjoy cutting-edge science at Scarlet City: a science-fiction-themed cafe that offers a small, intimate environment, home-roasted coffee, select beers and snacks, and a collection of sweet pinball machines.

Festive attire welcome!

Searching for DarkMatter – SuperCDMS (Cryogenic Dark Matter Search)

Talk by Professor Matt Pyle

Thursday, November 1 – 6:30 pm

60 Evans Hall University of California, Berkeley

What is dark matter? For decades, firm astronomical evidence from observations of stars and galaxies has indicated that most of the matter in the universe cannot be seen directly in telescopes. Instead, this matter must be observed indirectly through its gravitational pull on the objects that we can see. This is how the term “dark matter” was coined…But how do we search for something we can’t see?

Matt Pyle is the Michael M. Garland Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at UC Berkeley. Questions about the nature of the universe today, for example “Could dark matter be composed of particles with mass less than that of a proton?” are simply impossible to answer with present technology. Dr. Pyle’s goal is to develop and employ new detector technologies to find answers to these questions.